Climate and environmental experts have reiterated that if the global warming has to be restricted to 2 degree Celsius by the end of this century, then the carbon emissions must be brought down to zero by 2040.
The current stats indicate that we are very likely to miss this target. Thus, an entrepreneur has launched an ingenious plan to fight the monster of climate change and global warming. David Keith is a Harvard University physicist who has installed the facility names Squamish to absorb carbon dioxide right from the atmosphere.
Situated in British Columbia, Squamish estimates that the extensive facilities of the same nature could bring the price of direct air capture down to $100 per ton. The current estimates suggest that the air capture of the carbon dioxide gas will cost something around $400 to $1000 per ton.
Squamish can capture one ton of carbon dioxide each day. Since this gas forms only 0.04 percent of the atmosphere, extracting it directly from the air is a significant challenge.
The CEO of the Calgary-based Carbon Engineering; Adrian Corless describes his inspiration for this project.
“We’ve taken existing pieces of industrial equipment and thought about new chemistries to run through them.”
A peek inside this factory reveals an ingenious mechanism devised to capture carbon dioxide directly from the air. An engineered cooling tower has been filled with an alkali solution.
The acidic nature of carbon dioxide leads to a chemical reaction between the two, resulting in the dissolution of carbon.
The carbon molecules are condensed to form pellets in the system designed to extract minerals from the water treatment facilities.
A refashioned cement kiln is used to produce pure carbon dioxide gas from the carbonate solids.
The company has garnered significant attention in the scientific community. Carbon Engineering recently closed a deal of USD 6.2 million, from investors including Bill Gates. Keith next plans to convince the critics of Squamish of the worth of this venture.
“Most people in the energy expert space think that air capture is not particularly credible. There won’t be incentives and funding in a serious way for these technologies unless people believe that they actually work.”
Do you think that Squamish will be able to reduce the carbon content in the atmosphere significantly?
